Railways.

Rail transport adds an estimated ₹1.6 lakh crore of value in FY26 (0.51% of national GVA), almost all of it inside Indian Railways (IR), a departmental enterprise of the Union government with 1.2 million employees, ₹2.9 lakh crore of revenue, 1.65 billion tonnes of freight and 7 billion passenger journeys a year. IR is the country's largest single capex programme (~₹2.5 lakh crore a year, 2.2% of GFCF) and its largest cross-subsidy, with a freight surplus of roughly ₹0.6 lakh crore covering a passenger loss of the same size. Rail's share of national GVA has fallen steadily since FY05 as freight moved to roads and passenger fares were held below cost, but capex has grown 18-fold since FY05, led by dedicated freight corridors, electrification and metro expansion, which the base case expects to lift rail's freight-tonne-km share back from 27% to 30-33% by FY30-35. The only listed rail operators are Container Corporation and IRCTC; the two dozen other listed 'railway' companies (IRFC, RVNL, IRCON, RailTel, wagon/rolling-stock makers) build, finance or equip the system and belong economically to construction, finance and engineering.

Indian Railways revenue

~2.9 ₹ lakh crore · FY26

Freight revenue

1.85 ₹ lakh crore · FY26

Passenger revenue

0.85 ₹ lakh crore · FY26

Freight volume

1.65 billion tonnes · FY26

Passenger journeys

7 billion trips · FY26

Rail share of freight tonne-km

~27 % · FY26

Rail capex (IR + metro)

~2.5 ₹ lakh crore · FY26

Rail capex as % of GFCF

~2.2 % · FY26